THE Beast from the East seems a distant memory as spring has well and truly arrived.

Swimmers were spotted taking a dip in the sea and soaking up the sun yesterday as the weather hit 16C in Brighton.

We can certainly expect to see more people dipping a toe this week as temperatures look set to rise further.

Forecasters say Brighton will be matching Barcelona weather in the coming days, with a peak of 19C today and on Friday.

Meanwhile, after a long, hard winter, spring flowers are finally blooming across the city – as this picture of glorious blossom shows.

Some will find it hard to believe schools in Brighton and Hove were being closed because of snow little more than a month ago.